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Archive for April, 2009

Update on Senate Finance Committee meeting on Reforming Medicare to Reduce Spending Growth

Posted in News on April 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

This is from the New York Times.  The debate here revolves around how to structure provider payments to reduce the growth in spending with Original Medicare. Original Medicare pays claims on a straight “fee for service” basis.  The proposed reforms would change the way Medicare pays it’s providers (to look more like Medicare Advantage). Here is [...]

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NEW! Medicare Supplement Product Now Available!

Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Assured Life Association, Louisana, Medicare Supplement, Ohio, Oregon, West Virginia on April 29, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Effective May 8, 2009, Woodmen of the World/Assured Life Assocation has released a new Medicare Supplement in the states of Alabama (AL), Arkansas (AR), Louisiana (LA), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), and West Virginia (WV). If you would like to compare rates with our Medicare Quote Engine for any of these states, please click here.  You [...]

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Mutual of Omaha announces Timetables for Implementation of New Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plans for 2010

Posted in Insurance Companies, Medicare Supplement, Mutual of Omaha, United World, United of Omaha on April 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Effective June 1, 2010, little over a year from now, there are planned changes to the current standardized Medigap policy offerings. These changes will impact all companies offering Medicare Supplement insurance. This communication is to help you understand these changes, timelines for implementation and Mutual’s approach.   2010-medigap-changes

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Medicare Advantage Product Highlights from Coventry Conference Call for Q1 2009; Management to Decide on Future of PFFS Business in Next Few Days; Management remains highly committed to Network Based Medicare Advantage (HMO and PPO) in 2010

Posted in Coventry, Health America, Medicare Advantage, News on April 29, 2009 | 4 Comments »

I was listening to the call mainly to glean information on the Medicare Advantage market.  You can right click here to listen to the call (Open in NEW WINDOW so you can refer to the commentary below while listening).  I have some of what I consider the key aspects of the call (with the corresponding [...]

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Important Insights from the Humana Quarterly Conference Call

Posted in CMS on April 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I listened to the Humana Conference call last night.  I find this call to be most informative when it comes to gathering insights into what’s happening in Medicare Advantage. You can listen to the call if you like (it’s over an hour long). The one highlight I found most interesting was in a slide Humana put [...]

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Highlights of 2009 Medicare Advantage and Part D Enrollment Statistics

Posted in Medicare Advantage, News on April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »

I was looking at the overall enrollment statistics for Medicare Advantage recently.  I like to compare April 1st to April 1st of the prior year, since this represents the changes which occurs during the AEP and OEP and provides an excellent “snapshot” into what’s happening with MA enrollments.  Here are some highlights: Overall, Medicare Advantage enrollment [...]

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CMS Releases Medicare Advantage Enrollment Data for April 2009

Posted in Medicare Advantage, News on April 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »

I’m publishing a link to the April 1st, 2009 enrollment data for agents to view the enrollment figures for various plans in your county. The spreadsheet is set up with filtering, so if you click on the down arrow for state and then county, you can filter the list exclusively for counties you work in. [...]

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Chesapeake Administration will be moving from Oklahoma City to Nashville, TN

Posted in Chesapeake Life, Final Expense Life, Insurance Products, News, Uncategorized on April 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Chesapeake will make the transition in three (3) phases starting May 1st, 2009, click below for complete details. chesapeake-final-expense-sales-news

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Democrats Make Reconciliation Option Available to Pass Health Care Reform via Budget Process

Posted in News on April 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Essentially what’s happening here is by requiring $1 Billion in budget cuts in a $3.5 Trillion budget, the Democrats are able to use a reconciliation process which does not require 60 votes to stop debate in the Senate.  Reconciliation is generally a process to make it easier for budget cutting, but is being used here [...]

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CMS Adopts NAIC Medigap Modernization Model to Comply with MIPPA 2008; Major Changes will Occur in the Medicare Supplement Market effective June 1st, 2010

Posted in About Ritter Insurance Marketing, News on April 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Just as background, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) directed CMS to make changes to the Medigap plan benefits to update the plans.  The plan benefits have not been updated since they were first introduced in 1992. Here is a link to the annoucement on CMS adopting the NAIC Model. In [...]

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